the Scuffy - 24. Chapter 24

Friday morning stopping at Marge’s for breakfast and paying my tab, “Kevin, I hear that you bring Stella fish?”

“Yes, do you want some fish as well?"

“Yes, if it’s possible, I like a good fish and Stella says yours are fresh and delicious.”

“Monday, I’ll bring you a fish. You’ll need a cold place to store it till you get it home.”

At lunch I stopped at Jim’s and gave him a bank check to cover our order. The T-shirts were spectacular and I knew the boys would love them. I also picked up flip flops and sweats for Johnny. Glen picked up the truck and went shopping for food. I went back to work. Glen came by at three, ready to go home.

It didn’t take long for Nicky, Jamie and Johnny to get ready to go. I stopped at Grams for Charles and Peter, they had to check out the truck. Arriving at the dock, “Nicky, go to Chicken Shack and pick up supper, take Johnny with you.”

While he did that, Glen and I moved the large coolers to the boat. Charles carried the small ones that we normally used. Peter was looking at the crabs. I brought some bread with me, I gave it to Peter to catch crabs.

“Those are large ice chests, you expecting to catch a lot of fish?”

“Those chests operate like a refrigerator. They will keep the fish at thirty-eight degrees.” I plugged them into the DC outlets on the boat. Nicky and Johnny came back, eating a piece of chicken. I was waiting for Charles or Peter to say something, but they didn’t. They were busy catching crabs.

Food all stored, map marked, we were ready to go. I took the boots and sat down with the kids on the stern’s bench. “Boys, I have new boots for you to wear. With these boots you’ll have a better grip on the deck. I always had a fear that you would slip and fall over board. Try these on and see how they feel.”

I watched the boys as they took off their shoes and put on the boots. “Dad, these are like that man on my bank.”

“That’s right, Peter”

“Kev, I wonder if I could ask you a favor?”

“Sure, anytime Uncle”

“You know my friend, Jim. He has been having a little bad luck, do you think we can help him out a little.”

I knew that of all the captains, Jim was a close friend to Uncle. “Okay Uncle, will give him some of the sights that we used. He may not pull full loads, but he’ll pull half loads. If he stays longer, he could come in with a full load.”

Now I was going to keep the mermaid legend alive. I went and told Nicky what I wanted him to do. I told Uncle to tell Jim to tune into our frequency and as soon as the mermaid tells us where he should fish, we’ll relay that to him.

Nicky went and blew his conch shell, then put his face close to the water. He actually put his face in the water as if to kiss a mermaid. Then he went to the radio and contacted Jim, passed on the coordinates. I chuckled, Glen wanted to know what I told Nicky as he started the motors. Charles grabbed the crab bucket and Peter’s hand as they boarded the boat. “Charles, bring up the anchor.”

Glen and I cleared the lines, tossing the rope on the deck and we were ready to go. I checked the maps, picked a spot and told Nicky to head there. I watched the kids as they sat in the bow, watching the sun begin to set. Peter was sitting on Jamie’s lap

“Why the tears?”

“Look at the kids. We hear so much bad about these teens, but look at them. I’m proud of them.”

“I’m proud as well. Dad says that’s all Nicky talks about. He told Dad that Jamie brags about working the boat. I’ll bet Johnny will brag as well.”

I gave Glen a hug and kiss, I was the happiest guy alive.

Arriving at our coordinates, “Charles, take Johnny and show him how to drop the anchor.” Glen and I began to get the port net ready to drop. I saw Jamie and Nicky getting the starboard net ready to drop, I smiled at Glen.

Nets down, “Anybody hungry?” Within seconds, everyone was standing ready to eat. “Hands washed?”

While all of the kids left to wash their hands at the stern, I took Peter’s hands and washed them at the sink. Glen had heated up the mashed potatoes, coffee was perking and a small pan with milk was being heated for hot chocolate, I placed a chicken leg on Peter’s plate, Glen added mashed potatoes and gravy. I poured Uncle his coffee, Glen prepared his plate while I started to lay out plates with mashed potatoes. The boys came back and helped themselves to the chicken. Why is it when everyone is eating, it becomes quiet? When everyone was finished eating, I had ice cream cones for the boys. Uncle looked, I mouthed the words ‘new freezer’.

Nicky, Jamie and Johnny took Cabin1, Charles and Peter slept in Cabin 2 with Glen and I. Taking Peter to the head, Glen went to bless the ocean. When he came back down, he was smiling, followed by the boys.

“I think Johnny was a little bashful, Charles told him we were all boys.” I looked at Charles and smiled. Sleep came easy, with Peter in Glen’s and my arms. I laid my hand on Glen.

As predicted the horn went off at four am. Glen took Peter to the head while I headed to the stern. “Johnny, everything is okay. That was the whistle to wake us. After we bless the ocean, we need to pull the nets. Come on” as I put my arm around his shoulder. Nicky and Jamie were laughing.

“Okay guys, we’re going to pull the nets. Nicky and I will handle the port net, Glen and Jamie will handle the starboard net. Johnny, Charles will show you what we need to do as the fish land on the deck.”

Charles got the wooden pushers and showed Johnny how to push the fish toward the hold. As we began to pull in the net, again the winch began to squeal. “Glen, help Jamie with the fish.”

The net was full and almost half were tuna. The boys worked hard and as soon as the net was empty, Nicky pitched in. He was helping to put the tuna in the tins. Next was the starboard net. I watched as the net began to clear the railing, sure enough the creak of the winch told us what was in the net. I sent Charles and Johnny to bring up the remaining tins. We filled them as soon as the boys brought them on deck. Now the decision, we still had room for fish in the hold but not for tuna.

We dropped the nets one more time. “Uncle, we need to make a decision, we have thirty tins of tuna and the hold is about full. If we have more tuna, we are going to have to put them in the hold. I think the livebait hold may take one net but not two.”

After breakfast I checked where we were and where Jim was fishing. Uncle got on the radio and asked him how he was doing. Evidently even though he wasn’t getting full nets, he had already caught more fish than he had in the last four weeks. Uncle told him to stay until he had a full load.

“Kev, are you going to pull the nets at two?”

“No, let’s have lunch and then we’ll pull them. I think we’ll be going home early again.”

That is what we did. As the nets came up, we were full again. I began to fill the ice chests as well as the livebait hold. We still had to leave some fish in the nets as we headed home.